Luna the Lamprey Is Following You on Twitter

"The Pacific lamprey could be charitably
described as a homely creature," WW wrote in this spring's Willamette River issue. "Feeding by latching on to larger ocean
fish, such as sharks, the lamprey has no jaw, just a round, toothed
mouth that resembles a suction cup with yellow fangs and a scarlet
throat."

Meet Portland's new, adorable children's cartoon character!

The San Francisco Chroniclereported last week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Portland office is trying to draw attention to the vanishing lamprey population by creating a fictional, Tweeting eel named Luna the Lamprey.

Luna is the brainchild of Fisheries employee Sean Connolly. He is using Twitter and Facebook to chronicle her imaginary journey up Oregon's Columbia and John Day rivers to spawn.

Luna's Twitter feed is unusually personal for a fish: She has written about her looks ("Don't be upset! We might be funny looking, but we are not as bad as you think, in fact, we are almost endangered!"), her family and the her feelings about lost friends.

"I'm sad. Louie is dead!," she wrote on June 18. "He was swept away after repeated tries to naviagate [sic] through John Day Dam's fish ladder."

Connolly, who works out of Portland, told the Chronicle he was inspired by the social-media example of other slimy creatures.

Connolly said the inspiration for the Luna the Lamprey campaign was the escape a couple of years ago of a cobra from the Bronx Zoo. Within days, somebody was tweeting messages purportedly from the cobra.

"We
thought that was a funny and clever way to connect people with a
natural resource," he said. "We decided, well, if a cobra can tweet, why
can't a lamprey."

Luna currently has 461 "likes" on Facebook and 208 followers on Twitter.

Connolly told The Portland Tribune last month that he hopes his creation will tap into the regional craze for vampires. "Connolly hopes people
can make a connection between Luna and characters like Edward Cullen,
the teenage heartthrob vampire from the 'Twilight' series."

"In the low usage areas, we found that our vehicles sit idle four times longer, ultimately affecting overall vehicle availability for the Portland membership base, as well as parking for the Portland community."

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